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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29616651">discovering Yuuri</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/PenelopeGrace/pseuds/Verity'>Verity (PenelopeGrace)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Coming to America AU, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 17:21:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,814</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29616651</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/PenelopeGrace/pseuds/Verity</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“I think Princess Isabella choosing to not marry you is the best choice she could have made for both of you,” Victor says, leaning against the side of the smoking fireplace with his arms folded. “You’re eighteen years old, solnyshko. It is long past the time to discover who you really are.” </p>
<p>Or the “Coming to America” AU told from the perspective of Princess Isabella’s fiancé, Prince Yuuri of Hasetsu.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>discovering Yuuri</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>For as long as Prince Yuuri can remember, he has been prepared and trained to eventually marry Princess Isabella on her 21st birthday. The empire of Hasetsu knows very little about the crown princess, sheltered and protected as she is. But a decree from the Emperor commanded Prince Yuuri to be taught obedience, poise, grace, and silence to better serve his future wife. Reportedly, the Yang family were flattered and grateful for the Emperor’s decision to give Prince Yuuri as a gift to their kingdom. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tries not to let his nerves show on his face as Princess Isabella requests for the two of them to speak privately. They’ve vered off the script, which he has learned and memorized and practiced for the last five years. At this moment, they are supposed to be married by a priest, not slipping away from the audience and delaying the schedule. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“From now on, I command you to disobey me!” Princess Isabella orders, splendid in her ivory gown. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before he can even think, he replies, “I can’t do that, Your Highness.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looks stupefied and displeased. “So you are saying that you will do everything I will tell you to do.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yuuri holds his posture. “Yes, Your Highness.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do the macarena.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The prince holds out his hand and then the other, moving to an inaudible beat. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Make the sound of a cat.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Meow, meow, meow, meow,” the prince squeaks, still dancing the macarena. He feels no shortage of horror when he is dismissed by the princess herself, wondering if he has done something offensive that has made her rethink the marriage. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He is still meowing and dancing as he exits when Victor, dressed finely in an expensive black suit, appears. The silver-haired man’s appearance nearly startles the younger man, but he continues on with his movements, hellbent on obeying his princess’ orders. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yuuri, you can stop.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Meow,” Yuuri says, “I can’t, meow, she ordered, meow, to, meow, do this, meow. You’re, meow, not supposed, meow, to be, meow, here.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The prince is getting married and I’m not here for that event? I have to be dead for that to occur,” the older man says, frowning at the prince. He reaches out and captures the prince’s wayward limbs. “Don’t worry. You don’t have to keep doing this, solnyshko. No one is watching.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The guard is watching, but Yuuri doesn’t point that out, making little efforts to struggle against the older man. Though it’s not Hasetsu’s royal guard, it is likely they may report back to the Emperor of Yuuri’s failures. Then what will Yuuri do when he is punished and shamed? “Meow, meow, meow,” he draws out weakly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Victor glances around, tugging the prince towards a closed door. “Come on, solnyshko.” The room he locks them both in is some sort of janitorial closet, smelling strongly of chemicals and cleaners. He is careful to not knock over a neat row of mops. “Yuuri, please stop. You’re going to give us away.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With that, he reluctantly stops, his limbs crying out in relief. Despite the brief spark of happiness at the sight of the older man, Yuuri shakes his head. “Victor, you are not supposed to be here,” he repeats. The older man is the first son of a wealthy Russian nobleman who has escaped the jaws of the revolution and came to Hasetsu, intending to travel to England but finally deciding to stay in the Asian empire for the rest of his life in exile. Victor has lived in the same palace as Yuuri for a brief period of time, always tempting the prince to ditch his lessons and take a “small break for once.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yuuri always turns him down and reports him to his tutor, watching from the window as Victor ends up being chased by the guards to shoo him away from Yuuri. As an esteemed guest, Victor is in no danger of execution by Yuuri’s uncle, the Emperor, but the older man, as a teenager, has laughed off many official decrees to stay at least 30 yards away from Yuuri. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’ve already established that. But who is going to stop me from being close to you?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yuuri nearly rolls his eyes. He doesn’t. It is improper behavior for a prince. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In the end, it doesn’t matter. The wedding ends up being delayed for 40 days. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then a call to the Emperor informs Hasetsu that it turns out Princess Isabella will not be marrying Prince Yuuri. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What the fuck did you do?” roars Yuuri’s uncle, his voice not broken despite screaming for the last half hour. “How were you not able to beat this JJ person? He is not even a prince! He is a commoner! Some Canadian. Ordinary! Did you disobey her? Did you spit in her face? What did you manage to do, Yuuri? Twenty-one years of diplomacy was just flushed down the toilet! I have half a mind to flush you down, too!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yuuri stays silent. He has long learned that any word of protest is futile and only serves to infuriate the Emperor even more. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It is another half hour before the Emperor wipes the sweat of his face and finally orders, “Get him out of my sight. I don’t want to see him again.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>On his tongue, Yuuri tastes the bitterness of crushing defeat and shame.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Victor sneaks into Yuuri’s bedroom after dinner. Yuuri doesn’t know how he manages to scale the walls. There are no vines nor a tree to help the older man climb to the second floor. Still, the safety and privacy of his bedroom, he feels free enough to converse. Victor will never report to the guards or to the Emperor if Yuuri decides to slouch a single centimeter. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’re friends, right, Yuuri?” Victor asks, sitting cross-legged with shoes on Yuuri’s bed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The prince isn’t sure of what friendship even is. Friendship in the movies stars two people who have inside jokes, happiness, and little cruelty. From the first day he has met Victor, Yuuri has always been pushing him away, using his guards or the Emperor’s decree. He doesn’t have friends. Or a single friend. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She married JJ. A Canadian,” he says, breaking the silence. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Victor jumps off the bed. “She went to Canada for over a month to find a husband she likes.” He picks up the fireplace poker and spreads the embers, his silver hair falling forward as he works. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What does she not like about me?” Yuuri wonders aloud. “I’m the perfect husband.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe,” he says, watching the fire die. “But you’re hollow.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tilts his head in confusion. “What do you mean by that?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Victor doesn’t say anything. He merely douses the embers and returns the fireplace poker to its proper position. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Victor?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In a soft, gentle voice, he begins to speak again. “I think Princess Isabella choosing to not marry you is the best choice she could have made for both of you,” Victor says, leaning against the side of the smoking fireplace with his arms folded. “You’re eighteen years old, solnyshko. It is long past the time to discover who you really are.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you like to eat?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The answer would be whatever Isabella likes to eat, but he doesn’t know. So he answers, “I don’t know.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, what do you like to do?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The answer would be whatever Isabella likes to do, but he doesn’t know. So he answers, “I don’t know.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then what do you like?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The correct answer would be whatever Isabella likes, but he doesn’t know. This time he stays silent, remembering that Princess Isabella has questioned him of these matters, finding every single answer unsatisfactory. “Then what is the correct answer?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Solnyshko, there is no correct answer. There is only you, who knows the correct answer.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It doesn’t make any sense to Yuuri. How can he know the correct answer if he doesn’t know the correct answer? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m leaving for a flight to Los Angeles. You want to come?” At the hesitating look on the prince’s face, Victor reminds, “There is nothing for you here in Hasetsu anymore, solnyshko. Only a screaming, yelling Emperor and a future as a pretty bird in a cage. Come with me, and let’s go do something else.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For the first time, Yuuri reaches forward. Helping Victor rip up his bedsheets to form a sturdy rope, they climb down from the window together. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you usually do during the day?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yuuri rattles off a long list of lessons and his entire schedule. He watches the older man pick up a shade of green in his face, only for the shade to become even paler as he goes on. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wow!” he breathes. “You’re not doing any of that anymore.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nope. First of all, we are going to the closest junk food restaurant where you can try everything you like.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But I have to maintain my weight,” Yuuri protests. He gains weight too easily, and no one finds it attractive for a prince to have a small belly of fat. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“For who?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Victor makes a valid point there. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They walk into a Burger King together. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The months of discovering new things brings a spark to Yuuri’s eyes. With Victor at his side, he finally discovers his favorite food, a pork cutlet bowl. It is fatty, heavy, and indulgent, but Yuuri doesn’t feel like he must apologize for eating something like this. No one in the restaurant cares, and Victor laughs as he shoves sushi dipped with soy sauce into Yuuri’s mouth, the sauce dribbling down Yuuri’s chin. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No one from Hasetsu comes after him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We can’t do this for the rest of our lives,” Yuuri says into the dark, towards the shadow of where Victor rests in the other twin bed they’ve pushed together. “It’s unsustainable. Running around America and never having a single shred of responsibilities.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is it?” A pause. “Solnyshko, you’ve spent eighteen years locked in a gilded prison. With all of my power, I will let you run around America for the rest of your life without responsibilities. All just to see the smile on your face.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who am I?” Yuuri asks, after a moment. “What am I to you for you to do all of this for me?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know. You’ll have to figure the answer to that yourself even if it takes the rest of your life, but I know that I am yours if you will have me. All I ask is that you let me be by your side and that you will never ask for me to leave.” He pauses, turning over to face the younger man. “But don’t worry, solnyshko. You don’t have to find out the answers anytime soon.” He reaches out, pushing a curl out of Yuuri’s eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Victor, what does solnyshko mean?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s Russian. Russian for small sun.” And there, Victor smiles softly. </span>
</p>
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